What Would You Do ?

    Today was the first time ever that we reached a three hour work period!! The children could have gone longer, they sighed when we had to put the materials away and prepare for lunch. While the children were independently working I observed these works in action.


                                                              Botany Cabinet

She discovered the cabinet on her own. Kay is two and half years old. I haven't formally presented her any lesson in Botany. Would you have her put the material away or begin the first presentation of the Botany Cabinet. Kay worked with all drawers today sensorially for one whole hour.

                                             
                                              Binomial Cube

"Mumble" has been with us for only two weeks now. He is four years old with no prior montessori experience. I have introduced him to the Pink Tower and the Brown Stairs he loves working with them. Also he has a liken to numbers,working on recognizing them. Mumble worked today for two hours on the Binomial Cube he did not stop until he completed it, "The box closed" he shouted out.

 Having older children in our group now has helped tremendously to the function of our workcycle. Many of the younger children sit and observe them working with materials that they have never wanted to touch and now they can't keep their hands off of them. I am discovering montessori so I don't know if I was to interrupt their work and say "You have to wait to have a lesson on it".  Kay first instinct was to work with the insets as a puzzle. I have read this in Botany Cabinet presentations.  Mumble was excited to do something he saw others completing and repeated the words of success. I don't want the children to be confused at all .  I want them to understand the method and the progression of our materials.

What Would You Have Done?

Please share any experiences or suggestions. I really would like the help.

Thank You!

                                  

Toddler Tuesday

   The toddlers have been very patient with the rearranging of spaces. Some were frustrated at times when they went to find certain things on the shelf and could not find them right away. So we went over the school area from corner to corner naming things and finding out where the items are now being kept. So language was a heavy subject. A lot of prepositional phrases were used and a lot of games were played like "Where is the___" They enjoyed this and it helped them to remember where things belong. Change was good it added flavor to the everyday routine and allowed natural learning to occur. Not really too many pictures to show their actual montessori works, but I will share what I have.

                                                               Language

Practicing the sound C makes while making the dots in the circle. This was also a fun hand eye coordination to be able to dot the marker in the circle.

                                          Practical Life
                                        

Sponge squeezing the Island landform . This work idea came from Karen Tylers' Album at Worldwide Montessori. The children loved this work and now they name the landform.

Exploring the broom and dustpan she sees everybody using.

Independently working on putting on her own shoes. This was very rewarding for them. They realized that we could all go outside and play sooner when they didn't have to wait for Miss R and me to put on their shoes.

Outside Fun

                                                            
                                Overall I feel that we had a well rounded week, and looking forward to more real life learning experiences. To see other toddler activities pop over to One Hook Wonder.

Montessori Monday

Yeah!! We received our new materials last week. The children have been more busy helping prepare their enviroment than actually doing independent montessori work. Our space just got a little smaller adding in new materials and shelves. Our days have been spent rearranging and exploring the new goods. Well you know once children get the montessori bug you can't stop them from itchin to do some works. So here are some pics of them squeezing in some work, while preparing the enviroment, and enjoying the sun.

                                                               Practical Life
                                            

Sorting by color and tonging barrettes.Sorting spoons, forks,and knives. Matching measuring spoons and spooning sugar. Tying ribbons on spindles. Scrubbing table.

Language

Working with sandpaper letter and sound drawer. Creating own work, parts of the car.(Any guess who is doing this work?)

                                           
                                                 Geography

Working with United States,and Africa maps.

Art

Botany

Planting herbs.

Outside Fun

Climbing. Blowing Bubbles.

Don't you just love freedom of choice?

 To see what other children have been doing using the montessori method hop over to One Hook Wonder.

                                               

Advanced Practical Life

 The elementary aged children have been very much interested in practical life works. I am slowly but surely adding new items on the shelves to accomodate their interest and needs. I observed that they all liked the lock and key work that I had on the shelf before so I set up this.

                                                        The Combination Lock

                         The child must follow the four steps on the card to succesfully open the lock.
What I really enjoyed while observing them doing this work was how they had to really work hard on their hand eye coordination,and pincer grasp to line up the numbers with the dial.  They reviewed left and right.  Understanding how to count between numbers was also reviewed. There are a lot of  teachable moments with this work. I also heard one child say when they opened the lock "all I had to do was follow the directions". That is a great reward for a child to be able to recognize the process and the result on their own.
                                                                          

Having this work avaliable on the shelf allowed the children to understand the importance behind other works. Now they ask me "why did I put this on the shelf " asking about different works. I answered one of them using the correct language used to describe the aim of that particular work.  Then I asked her "why did you  think I put works on the shelf" ? She said "So we can have fun". That statement made my day.

                                                                          

Early Practical Life

 The more I learn about the montessori method the more excited I become. Being a child care provider for eight years in my home my spark always came from preschoolers. They could talk in complete sentences, answer you back, etc. So my entire child care was set up just for preschoolers. I had the required equipment to serve younger children but my whole daily schedule addressed learning goals for preschoolers. Well, I am happy to say that has all changed, I am just excited to find more activities for the infants as I am for my toddlers, preschoolers, and schoolagers.  The montessori method  helped me to become more aware of the enviroment and I have learned so much about the  "prepared enviroment" that it has kept me focused and sane. My mind has been able to become free of gimmicks, promising your child will be able to do this and that  and back to what really counts.  For $2.00 I brought a comb and a brush . I prepared a early practical life lesson Combing and Brushing the hair.

Miss R presenting "Eli" the brush.

"Eli"  independently working with the comb and brush in front of the mirror.

                                                                            
                               The joy  on "Eli's" face was something I couldn't even photograph. I was so thrillled  for that very moment I couldn't remember the camera, I was so engrossed with pure happiness. Were on a beautiful journey here and its' just getting started!!

Toddler Tuesday

         The young ones have definetly made some giant leaps they are mastering everything I call "new" on the shelves within work periods. I don't want to overload them and then turn them off so I pulled out some old winner works and replace them with new objects. This kept them busy and happy. They loved showing off their works to everyone that came by their work space. The activities that I photographed were the ones  that kept them repeating over and over. I am kinda scared of what they will do to me if I remove them off the shelves.

Working with shape puzzzle.

Flower arranging .

Stringing flowers to make a bracelet.

Gluing with Kumon pages.

Scooping beans.

Working with cylinder blocks.

The little ones really add the spice to our enviroment. The laughing, the smiles and their own personalities really remind me of how you can have fun learning and how absorbment the mind really is. Now pop over to One Hook Wonder to see more toddler lessons.

                                                           

Montessori Monday

Last week was a very relaxed work week. I allowed the children to have more time outside. We really needed this, the weather was great. Here are a few pictures I managed to take while some children were working.                                              
                                                        Geography

Sorting land, water, air animals. Working with the continent map.

Language

Doing things that go together puzzles. Coloring with a crayon.

Practical Life

Spooning beads. Pouring to a line. Using a strainer to transfer frogs from water.

Art

                              Making stepping stones for Fathers' Day gifts.

                           To see what other children did  last week learning using the montessori method go visit One Hook Wonder.

Happy Fathers' Day!!

                 Lots of times fathers get a really bad deal. When babies are developing in the womb, they are really becoming dependent on their mother from the very beginning. When they are born immediate attachment happens from breast feeding.  No matter how old they are they scream "momma" when they get hurt. How do fathers cope with all this and still stick around?   Well they are given certain talents from God that I have only observed from fathers. When a child falls and hurts themselves, and the father is right there the crying almost stops immediately when their father is there to lift them up. When a child is hungry, the father is able to get the most pickiest eater to eat what is provided with silence. When a childs' discipline is unfavorable, you can witness one of Gods' gift to fathers their voice. They do not have to raise a voice, they do not have to repeat themselves, and they never scream. Being a mother of three these talents that fathers have, have made everything possible for me to be able to continue to be a good mother. When "DJ" falls outside and barely scraps a knee, I get a drama scene when dad comes out to see what happened everything is fine and he is playing again. When "Ken" plays around at the dinner table with her mashed potatoes all daddy has to do is walk in the kitchen and the potatoes are gone. When the oldest decides she wants to be the boss to her siblings all dad has to do is say a few words and mums the word. Sounds simple but its' not at all. Take a moment to think . There are a lot of statistics that show how children without fathers end up  going down the wrong path, failing in schools, ending up in abusive relationships, in prison, the list goes on and on. So to all the men who have stepped up to plate of being fathers I commend you. Fathers have the toughest job on this planet. It is through fathers that we can stop these horrible cycles from continuing. Also fathers have to deal with us (lol). We(moms) never know when to stop making request about anything. I would like to personally thank my husband for being a father to our kids so their chances of failures have decreased. I would like to thank my dad for being there for me and showing me what I should look for in a husband/father. I would like to thank my gramps for raising my father so he would know how to be a father.

                                                Happy Fathers' Day!!

                                                                    From "Michelle"

                                                                  From "DJ"

                                                                    From "Ken"